Quincy public housing tenants sound off at forum

Quincy City Councilor Margaret Laforest held a public meeting at O'Brien Towers on Wednesday to give tenants a chance to sound off about poor maintenance and scathing reports from state inspectors. But the forum offered no solutions to the problems.

QUINCY – After weeks of sitting in the crosshairs of state housing inspectors, the Quincy Housing Authority took its lumps Wednesday night from a roomful of tenants, who are fed up with everything from peeling paint to leaking roofs.

The forum, which will be repeated next week for public housing residents in other parts of the city, comes a month after the state housing department issued a scathing assessment of Quincy Housing Authority’s maintenance practices and documented dozens of health and safety violations at state-funded public housing units.

Regina Jones-Jenkins, who heads a tenants organization for Germantown, called on residents to withhold rent if the housing authority fails to fix problems in their apartments.

“Quincy Housing Authority is governed by state and federal laws and you can withhold your rent,” she said. “The mold, the leaking, the roof, the peeling paint … if you’re sick and tired of it, work with each other and organize. Many voices are stronger than one voice.”

Her comments, like many of the others voiced by tenants, brought forth cheers and applause from the residents, most of whom live in O’Brien Towers.

But the forum offered up little in the form of solutions or answers to why the situation at the housing authority has gotten so troubled that the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development vowed to inspect more than 900 state-funded homes in Quincy.

James Lydon, the executive director hired last summer to run the Quincy Housing Authority, passed the microphone around to tenants and responded only briefly to concerns.

“I promise you all that I will work my hardest to improve maintenance, property management and the finances,” he said.

His assurances did nothing to quell the discontent.

May Yin Lam Chan, one of more than 50 tenants who turned out for the evening meeting, rose her hand for the microphone and chastised public officials not about housing conditions but about basic communication with its Chinese tenants.

“Why is there no interpreter for us here? The Chinese don’t understand,” she said. “That’s not right. They have a right to understand.”

Ward 1 Councilor Margaret Laforest, who hosted the public forum at O’Brien Towers, said the city should sponsor a special forum that would have a Chinese interpreter present.

“We put this together in a quick fashion,” she said.

Some residents also blasted Laforest, complaining that the councilor has not taken much interest in the low-income constituents who live in public housing on the opposite side of Houghs Neck.

“How come she never comes here? She does everything for Houghs Neck, but she never comes here,” said Peggy Golden.

Page 2 of 2 - Jim Morgan echoed the sentiment: “We’ve had problems for years, but we haven’t seen you.”

Laforest deflected the criticism, arguing that she is available by telephone to hear the concerns of residents.

“Call me. It’s all about communication,” she told the tenants. “It’s all about you being my eyes and ears.”

Reach Chris Burrell at cburrell@ledger.com or follow him on Twitter @Burrell_Ledger.